All Alone
by Fixated On You
Summary: Don't try to fix me. I'm not broken


**ALL ALONE**

**Chapter one**

_Don't try to fix me. I'm not broken. _

It was dark times and Hogwarts was just another barren dingy castle. Lord Voldemort had been defeated but he had left behind a trail of sorrow and terror so deep, you could hardly remember a time when you were happy. Most of his Death Eaters had been rounded up and thrown into prison (they had not gone without a fight and many lives had been lost). The smarter and more dangerous Death Eaters had banded together to form a secret organization (undoubtedly titled under a very cool name), and their goal was to create as much terror and bloodshed as possible. Every wizarding family had suffered a devastating loss of some kind. However, when a wound is inflicted – it will heal. The healing process had begun for the wizarding world but the scar would deface it forever.

Dani Madison was oblivious to this though. She was engrossed in a book recommended by her muggle studies professor ('_The DaVinci Code – the truth about Jesus!_'). She could not be blamed for not noticing the tall handsome blonde wizard sneering and looking down at her condescendingly.

He was Nicholas Malfoy - Headboy and heir to the 'great Malfoy fortune'. The Malfoys had played a large role in the downfall of Lord Voldemort. Draco Malfoy – in order to save his own ass, his fortune and family, had agreed to be Albus Dumbledore's spy. It was known that Draco had crossed to the 'Light Side' for his own selfish reasons, but nevertheless, he became a hero to the wizarding world. The fact that he was rich and handsome may have also contributed to this hero image and many young girls lusted after him. However, Draco had chosen an unknown girl (for some reason, nobody knew who she was) and they had one son. Nobody knew about the girl except that she died soon after Draco Malfoy was assassinated. It was one of the great love stories of the time (kind of the wizarding version of _Romeo and Juliet_).

"Mudblood".

Dani ignored him on purpose even though she knew it aggravated him. Everybody said that Nicholas resembled his father (but Dani was not sure whether that was a compliment as Draco Malfoy had been described as an obnoxious little shit). They both also had an extreme dislike/phobia of muggle-borns. Some things just never changed.

Dani was just an ordinary girl in her ordinary world of magic, wands and castles. She was muggle-born which meant eternal unpopularity. She was not beautiful either- her eyes were sometimes too big for her face and she did not have the long slender form she wanted badly. Instead, she was petite and felt rather plain with her black hair and dark brown eyes. The only thing she prided herself upon was her grades and that was only because she spent long hours poring over heavy dust-ridden textbooks.

Nicholas kicked her. "We have to hand in the Potions assignment tomorrow. Have you done it?"

Professor Snape (the slimy horrible Potions master) had paired her up with Malfoy and of course he had dumped all the workload on her. Most certainly, he would get all the credit. She could just imagine Snape in his smooth snooty voice, "Well done Mr. Malfoy."

It was unfair but Nicholas was a Malfoy and things were never fair when it came to Malfoys. Dani had accepted this ever since she had gone to Hogwarts. All that mattered was wealth, breeding and social standing. After Voldemort had been defeated, prejudice against muggles had been stronger than ever. Most wizards had been annoyed that during the Great War, they had to protect the muggles from being butchered by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. To most wizards, muggles were a liability and a burden. "Mudblood" which used to be an offensive term that few used became an offensive term which was used by almost everyone.

Dani was one of the extremely few entirely muggle students at Hogwarts (in fact, she was the only one in her year). Thus it was no big surprise to her that she was shunned by almost all her peers and faced a future of being outcasted by almost every member of the wizarding community. However, she was determined to stick it out, get good grades and possibly become a Healer at St. Mungo's.

"Yes," Dani refused to look at Nicholas. Looking at him made her want to puke. Not that he was ugly or anything. Actually, looking at him also made her want to have sex but that was beside the point. He was extremely good-looking with his dirty blonde hair, alluring silver eyes and flawless pale skin. Malfoy had broken his share of hearts and was probably the most notorious playboy Hogwarts had ever had. With an ego sky-high, he got everything that he wanted.

That was what Dani hated about him. That he was so inconsiderate and shallow. That he never cared about anybody else apart from himself. She remembered the incident in a DADA exam in her third year clearly…

Start Flashback

They were doing a practical exam and Nicholas was in front of her. Professor Lupin (their Defence against the Dark Arts Professor) had done some sort of cool maze/obstacle thing. Nicholas had been perfect until he had come to the Boggart and had lost it. It was the first time Dani had seen him lose his control. He was hyperventilating and shaking on the ground and when Professor Lupin had run forwards to rescue him, she couldn't resist taking a quick peek at what form the Boggart took (the Boggart would not take the form of her own worst fear as Lupin had temporarily frozen everything).

Malfoy had been in the hospital wing for two weeks because he had seen the dead body of himself. His great fear was of himself dying? From then on, Dani's disgust of Nicholas had tripled. True, seeing yourself dead in front of you was psychologically disturbing but compared to everybody else's boggarts of loved ones being ripped apart and tortured, it was nothing. Nothing.

End Flashback

"Hey mudblood, wake up!" Nicholas waved a hand in front of her. "Why do I bother to talk to you anyway? You're beneath me."

She bit her lip in anger and turned away but he stopped her, leering at her. "If only your parents weren't mudbloods, maybe I'd like you."

"Damn it Malfoy!" Dani muttered angrily, without thinking. "You're human too. Oh wait, I heard that your mother was part-vampire."

His entire demeanor changed. Dani idly wondered how he could switch that quickly.

"Don't insult my mother, mudblood," he growled. "Didn't your mudblood parents ever tell you not to talk back to your betters? But I suppose being mudbloods they had no manners and were too crude."

Dani's heart was beating furiously. Crossing lines with Malfoy would be social suicide and that her life could definitely get worse but in that instant, she just didn't care.

She was just going to hurt him as much as she could. He had gotten her worked up and now he was going to pay for it.

So she did something very unusual for her. She hit him. Not a slap, or anything girly (like hair pulling) but a punch. She wanted to break those perfect features, to maim his face and she would have if she could. The first time, he was taken by surprise but the second time, he grabbed her wrist just in time and they stared at each other for a moment. He was sporting a cut lip and as she watched the blood trickle slowly, she felt triumphant that she had done something at last as well as regret that she did not possess any greater strength. "You talk too much Malfoy," she added bitterly (hoping it was the insult to injury).

Still maintaining the eye contact, he wiped the blood away with his other hand. She watched the blood on his fingers, mesmerized. There eyes were connected for a brief few seconds before Dani stepped back and as calmly as she could, she walked away from him. She also remembered to hold her head up high.

She was sorely tempted to look back to see the expression on his face but thought better of it as she quickened her pace. Only when she was far away enough to be sure that he wouldn't curse her, did she look back.

He looked absolutely furious. He wasn't doing anything but staring at her. If looks could kill, she would have been, well, dead.

"FIFTY POINTS from Gryffindor for harming the Headboy!" yelled Nicholas furiously and Dani hurried on, not sure whether she was regretting or savouring her moment of victory.

Everybody has a special place, a place where they feel secure and comfortable. A place where one could just think and day dream. Usually, it is one's bedroom or even the toilet.

For Dani though - her bedroom was the Gryffindor Seventh Year Girls' Dormitory and she shared it with three other girls, none which she particularly liked. The toilet smelt too much like a toilet which made it difficult to think. Her special place was the Astronomy Tower. It was her _sanctuary_.

The Astronomy Tower was the highest tower in Hogwarts. Contrary to popular belief, it was not an ideal shagging place. For one thing, it was exposed to cold air which made it freezing to be in and for another, it was so high up and hard to get there, that most lust- starved couples could hardly be bothered to make their way across the seven staircases. Nah, everybody knew that if one wanted to make out, one would find a nice broom cupboard which came with a door that could lock.

As Dani made her way up the stairs, she was confronted by a group of Slytherin girls from her year. She recognized them – they were in her Potions class. There were four of them in total and needless to say, she disliked the four of them intensely. There was Zoe Zacharas-Zabini (poor girl had the most ridiculous initials), Mary-Anne Krum who resembled a duck (and was nicknamed 'Duck'), Francesca Pritchard who was beautiful, knew it and slept with almost everybody (rumor was that she moved on to the girls) and Shiri Lestrange who was Malfoy's cousin (and who Dani believed had copied her Transfiguration exam last year). Undoubtedly, they had heard about her attack on Nicholas. News traveled fast at Hogwarts.

"So," Zoe lifted a heavily penciled eyebrow. "This is the mudblood slut who threw herself at Nicky and when he rejected her, she attacked him?" Her friends giggled as Dani inwardly rolled her eyes. _I can't believe Malfoy's fans believes his dumb lame excuses. But then…they are his fans…_

"That's not what hap…." she began but was interrupted (rather rudely) by Zoe who pushed her roughly and before she knew what was happening, four wands were pointed at her.

"This is for being a mudblood," Zoe said slowly as they all grinned at Dani wickedly. "Expellia—…."

Something incredibly like anger snapped inside Dani. She hated being blamed for every single thing and being picked on just because she was muggle-born. Malfoy had fully deserved that punch. It wasn't her fault that she was born a muggle. She was just as good at magic as all the pure-bloods. Maybe even better. She raised her own wand, "Stupefy!"

The red light hit Zoe and she collapsed immediately. Her friends stared at her gaping, before turning back to Dani and rushing at her in Zoe's defence.

Dani could handle three Slytherin girls. Especially when they were hopeless duellers. She had disarmed Shiri and Francesca in a second and when she had turned around, Mary-Anne had gone. _Slytherins_, she thought disgustedly.

_Most of them were spineless, cowardly and useless._ _Ambition my ass. _

"So there," she threw Shiri and Francesca's wands and they clattered on the ground. "Maybe you can all get fucked."

She felt a rush of pride as she said this. She had been dying to do this ever since first year when the four Slytherin girls had cornered her and cut her hair against her will. She had let them pick on her until today. Dani did not know what made today special. She had hit Malfoy and cursed the Slytherin girls. Usually she would be hesitant to cause trouble but today, she just didn't care. _Temporary insanity_, she thought amusedly. _Something that will pass. _

Again, she turned away from her enemies and walked away from them proudly. This time, she didn't look back.

It was only when she got up to the Astronomy Tower when her actions began to sink in. "Oh my God," she said out aloud. She had a headache from all that confusion and turmoil. What the hell had gotten into her? Nicholas Malfoy would not let that punch to him go. Bastard. The Slytherin girls would not forget her besting them either. Slytherins always kept their grudges.

Dani Madison was a realist. She knew that a "war" with Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins and hell, almost the rest of the school against her would result in her losing. She would probably be expelled for causing trouble and forever be barred from the wizarding world. It didn't matter if she had obtained the maximum amount of OWLs possible.

She wondered if being barred from the wizarding world would really be that devastating. It wasn't as if she had anything going for her. Nope. No enticing future with a prospect of a lot of galleons, a loving wizard willing to marry and die for her as well as well as an entourage of friends whose loyalty usurped a Hufflepuff's. The muggle world would be welcoming, quiet and even peaceful – even _she_ deserved a lifetime of peace for the hell she had gone through for almost seven years.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she barely noticed the black-haired wizard next to her. So she was very surprised when he asked her what she was thinking about.

"Everything bad comes to an end," she remarked good-naturedly. "If everything good does, right?"

The boy smiled. He had been her friend (even though he didn't say much) since her first year. When she had run up the seven flight of stairs crying on the second day of Hogwarts, chased by some Slytherin fourth year boys, she had taken sanctuary in the Astronomy Tower. The boy was there and watched her as she scanned everywhere just for somewhere to hide. They heard the Slytherins panting like dogs cornering a rabbit and the footsteps, signifying their approach. And the boy had wordlessly handed her a cloak from his bag. "Put it on," he had said. "And they won't see you."

Because of that, she felt forever indebted to him. The High Tower became her sanctuary as well as his and neither minded sharing it.

She had learnt later that the cloak was an Invisibilty Cloak, the only thing of his father's that Justin Potter had possessed.

He didn't talk to her for the first three years. At first she had tried, tried to wheedle him into awkward conversations about subjects they were taking and the weather but he had just ignored her. She gave up soon and they settled into a comfortable pattern of silence.

In their fourth year though, it had all changed. They were doing their homework sometime in November and it was snowing. She had cast warming and reflective charms (so that the snow would just bounce off). He had difficulty mastering the reflective charm (in fact, she had caught him pouring over textbooks – it made her smile) and so she had taught him. Their relationship went from there. In time, he had warmed up to her and listened to all her raves and rants. He never offered any advice nor commented on how illogical she was being, but simply listened to her. On the rare occasion, he laughed at a joke she had made.

It was a strange friendship but sometimes a strange friend is better than no friend and it soon became much more than that. Even though he sometimes scared her with the bitter coldness which radiated from his beautiful green eyes, she secretly loved him. She loved his gentleness and intelligence.

And so now, she told her friend about Nicholas Malfoy and how she had punched him. Even though he abhorred violence, Justin was impressed at her and laughed at how she had beaten the Slytherin girls. She felt warm, knowing she had made somebody laugh. Suddenly, hitting Malfoy didn't seem like such a big deal anymore.

Being with Justin comforted her. She felt safe with him around. She would probably do anything for him if he had asked her to.

But sometimes, she wished that he wasn't so cold.


End file.
